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Amanda Danforth - First Things First

Amanda Danforth - First Things First

by Arnold Pizer -
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inactiveTopicFirst Things First topic started 7/29/2002; 2:55:11 AM
last post 7/29/2002; 2:55:11 AM
userAmanda Danforth - First Things First  blueArrow
7/29/2002; 2:55:11 AM (reads: 2903, responses: 0)

FIRST THINGS FIRST

 

SHELL ACCESS

First of all, you need to make sure you have easy access to the WeBWorK server. See your system administrator and make sure they put you in the correct groups so that you have the correct permissions to create and manage your course.

$PATH

Secondly, make sure to set your path so that it includes /ww/webwork/system/scripts/. This way you can run the necessary WeBWorK command line scripts without typing their full path names. Actually at this point, most things involved in running a WeBWorK course can be done over the web, so there is not too much need to run command line scripts. Go to the professor page to see all the web based routines. To see what your PATH is and make sure that it is complete, enter the command

echo $PATH.

You will probably use the following script quite a bit. (For a full list of commands with descriptions, some of which are only used when setting up a course, see Command line scripts) .

 

l2hPrecreateSet.pl

This script is used to pre-create latex2html output for each student for a single problem so that WeBWorK doesn't have to run latex2html in processProblems. This is useful so that all the latex2html images are already in existence before busy system hours. This minimizes image errors, and makes for happy students.

 

USING THE PERL SCRIPTS:

If you forget the correct syntax for a script, you just type the script name without any parameters. An error message will be output giving the correct syntax. E.g.

l2hPrecreateSet.pl

Syntax is: l2hPrecreateSet.pl course_name set_definition_filename or l2hPrecreateSet.pl course_name set_definition_filename lowerLimit or l2hPrecreateSet.pl course_name set_definition_filename lowerLimit upperLimit

(e.g. l2hPrecreateSet.pl demoCourse set1.def or (e.g. l2hPrecreateSet.pl demoCourse set1.def 30000 or (e.g. l2hPrecreateSet.pl demoCourse set1.def 30000 60000

Problems are pre created for all psvn's between lower and upper limits if the limits are given.

 

COURSE ORGANIZATION

We will use the WeBWorK course mth141 as an example throughout this setup process. This is our base course directory.

During setup, it is recommended that you make two copies of your course. One is called your "private" course and one is called your "public" course. This is denoted, for example, as mth141priv for your private course, and mth141 for your public course.

The public course (mth141) is the course the students use. The private course (mth141priv) is generally for your benefit if you want to test out new problems, write up exams, create new problem sets, or work out bugs.

Also, the private course is generally set up so that there are no practice users. Playing around in the private course is a good way to get to know the system without interfering with the students and their work.

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